Monday, October 6, 2008

Green Mom Carnival: The Commercialization of the Holidays

'Tis the season! Or at least that's what I've always announced, with a thrill, when I flipped the calendar to October.

I love the holidays. The pumpkins and magic of Halloween. The gathering of friends and celebration of the harvest at Thanksgiving. The joy of giving, the way your heart swells when singing carols. All of those things are wonderful, filled with meaning beyond measure.

Some how, though, some of that meaning, that magic gets trampled ever year. By the sound of stampeding feet, cash registers ringing. This month, Green Moms across the blogosphere take on the commercialization of the holidays, offer suggestions for coping and for re-capturing the true joy of the holiday season. This is the October edition of the Green Moms Carnival.

"Put Your Blinders Baby", warns The Mindful Momma, because here comes the retail parade. She discusses how commercialization is seeped into most of our holidays and offers some suggestions for celebrating simpler, greener and more memorable holidays.

The Green Parent is dreaming green this holiday season. No longer will the big box stores dictate how she celebrates, she vows! She will embrace the joy of the holidays and celebrate it her way. Are you a dreamer?

Over at Kneedly Knits, Viv explores two very different types of gifts - one bogged down in consumerism and one fraught with meaning. She implores us to teach our children the true of meaning of gift, which, in and of itself, is the greatest gift of all.

What is a green Halloween anyway, wonders Maya at The Gamble Life. Find how what she concludes and she sets about trying to achieve it. Some great ideas - and memories - here.

Best of Mother Earth poses the timeless question: To Consume Or Not To Consume? She recounts visits to a traditional pumpkin patch - complete with hand pressed apple cider and homemade doughnuts - and how and why those visits came to an abrupt end.

Greenstyle Mom is turning the tables this Halloween with reverse trick or treating. Instead of receiving candy, her children will give candy - and information about fair trade chocolate - on their trick or treat trail. Great idea!

Fake Plastic Fish wonders about Fake Plastic Holidays. Beth questions the very core of holidays these days. She wonders how we can get back the joy and honor we once enjoyed, how we can leave everything that is fake and plastic behind us.

At In Women We Trust, Mary gives us a peek in to another family's life: one which raised six kids frugally and thoughtfully. Instead of piles of presents, this family turns the holidays into a time for mountains of memories.

La Marguerite encourages us to move outside our own homes this holiday season . . . and into the mall. Could green moms disrupt the holiday shopping season with some subversive green dropping?

MamaBird at Surely You Nest shares her to-do list for the upcoming holidays. And it is a good one, loaded with ideas for taming the "giving-and-getting beast" and creating the memories and traditions that make the holidays special.

Arduous loves the holidays, but, like most of us, doesn't want participate in rampant commercialism just because it is a ritual. Instead, she shows how we can create our own rituals and inject joy, meaning and connection back into the season.

Big Green Purse is taking a somewhat different approach to the holidays. In their constant quest to use the marketplace to change corporate behavior, they've launched a "Can I Get It In 'Green'?" campaign, starting with the unofficial holiday season Halloween kicks off.

Holidays made by hand is one of the themes over at Tiny Choices. While it may seem commercial to start thinking about Christmas now, if you plan on making any gifts, now is the time to start. Explore Tiny Choice's list and links for other truly green holiday gifts.

Healthy Child Healthy World announces Extreme Makeover: Holiday Edition. Instead of following along with the usual, overly commercial and stressful traditions, create some new ones and recover the true meaning of the holidays.

Want to join in the Green Mom fun? Green moms, green dads, green aunts and uncles and "earth mothers and fathers" (those who don't have children but care about the planet) are welcome to participate in the Carnival. Karen at Best of Mother Earth is hosting in November. The topic is, appropriately, gratitude and favorite green things (top three please). Posts are due on October 27 and the carnival will go live on November 3rd. Please submit them to greenmomscarnival(at)gmail(dot)com.

Thanks for the great resources. The commercialization of the holidays ties into a bigger problem, which is the overall commodification of the American dream. The green movement is doing a great job of extracting consumption from the celebration of holidays, as well as the ins and outs of everyday life.

greenofficeblog: So true. It is commodification that has gotten us into this mess.

Jennifer: Oh my God! You are so right. It is all about TOO MUCH STUFF!! We need to stop. We need to get rid of what we have (it is taking all my time to maintain, clean up, etc). Today, in carpool, a five year old buddy of my son's said "I have so many matchbox cars, I don't know what to do with them." We really need less. Very insightful.

Anna: I loved that pic! Totally took me back. :)

Domestic Accident: You are right. As money gets tighter, it will be more accepted to get away with less. Love the list for your kids. I may have to adopt that one!

Thank you for all your work on this, I'm excited to explore every post. I came over from Karen's blog and was thrilled to see the topic of the carnival. This has been on our mind as our children are still young and we're hoping to establish more green holiday traditions.